


Scorched Resolve

by Toastie_Pan



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Gen, If you go in the woods today, Lost bonds, New Hope, WOR sadness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-04
Updated: 2020-12-04
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:08:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27876625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Toastie_Pan/pseuds/Toastie_Pan
Summary: Gladiolus and Ignis find themselves unexpectedly reunited on a last-ditch effort supply run, 8 years into the 10 years of Darkness when hope is starting to dwindle into despair.Written for the Lost In Wars zine!
Comments: 4
Kudos: 10
Collections: Lost in Wars - A FFXV World of Ruin Zine





	Scorched Resolve

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks again to the mods and creators who brought this project together! It was an honour to be part of it :) 
> 
> Also this was so much fun to hammer through all the different weapon types and ensuring our boys were properly outfitted for the battle.

_8 Years since Noct- ***scribble*** His Highne- ***scribble*** …_  


Gladiolus hastily crossed out everything he had already written. He sighed heavily, fatigue pulling down his shoulders.  


Supplies dangerously low. Lestallum overrun. Demon raids increasing. Supply Hunt still ongoing.  


A pause. The pencil hovered over the palm sized notepad.  


_Killed a man yesterday. He was raving that ‘only one with pure eyes, unblemished by the Star’ would serve the cult he was bound to. No more than 20. The kid no more than 8._  


Gladiolus shook out his hand, as though he could shake away the feeling of the Man’s flesh parting beneath his blade.  


_The kid died today. Chandravarma._  


Gladiolus stopped once more, rubbing his brow to shake the memory of once again being too late. Sighing, he put the book away.  


‘Took my advice then?’ came a familiar voice before him. Gladiolus couldn’t help the ghost of a smile at the sound.  


‘Barely,’ he grunted in reply, shifting in his chair as Ignis located another close by and sat down. ‘Didn’t expect you to be here.’  


‘I daresay we had the same thought. A place not yet scoured, that could yield spoils unknown.’  


Gladiolus nodded. ‘Deadeye’s lair.’  


They fell into silence briefly as the fire crackled.  


‘Shall we begin?’ Ignis asked, knowing the chances of anyone else joining them to be rare. They were too few, too spread between Hammerhead, Lestallum and more recently Insomnia for any others to join their hunt.  


‘Don’t you want to rest?’  


A pause as Ignis stood.  


‘Nowadays it hardly matters.’  


Heart heavy with a different hurt, Gladiolus nodded in understanding before standing himself.  


‘Then let’s go.’

* * *

Deadeye’s old lair was abandoned; the Behemoth variants long slaughtered and the demons had moved in. The chatter of the Erishkigals echoed across the crumbling stone as the eerie glow of Bombs moved through the thick fog.  


_This was a mistake._   


The feeling grew as they moved further in. 8 years and no one had scouted this area? No one had thought to check for supplies or meteorshards? Gladiolus halted, looking down beneath the fog that flowed at their feet. His blood turned to ice even as he stopped Ignis moving forward with a gentle touch on his shoulder.  


Tags… _hundreds of them._  


A few Bombs and Eriskigals didn’t do this. There’s no way.  


A tap on his hand had Gladiolus turning. Ignis pointed towards the glade before flicking his wrist back urgently.  


**“RETREAT”**   


If his own perceptions hadn’t convinced Gladiolus already, the tight clench of Ignis’ jaw did. This wasn’t wariness.  


This was _fear._  


Pulling away, they made for the broken down tunnel in which they’d entered but before they could…  


A shiver. A sliver of a hush of air against the back of his neck had Gladiolus glancing back at the fog filled glade.  


_What the hell?_   


Ignis paused at the entrance, having heard Gladiolus stop.  


‘I’m…going back.’ Gladiolus muttered, his mind screaming _‘why the hell would you do such a damn fool thing?!’_ even as he said it.  


Ignis froze, his mouth opening and closing in a rare show of indecisiveness. His mind probably trying to expunge every single reason as to why they should leave right now but eventually Ignis merely sighed, standing at Gladiolus’ shoulder and summoning his Radiant Lance. Gladiolus nodded and pulled out his Dominator.  


Together they grimly shuffled back through the fog, only to find the glade eerily empty.  


That was when they heard it, stomachs plummeting at the realisation of what those muffled pops of sound were.  


‘Astral’s Mercy there’s someone already here!’ Ignis gasped.  


‘And they’ve called in the whole goddamn party, come on!’  


The Lair was bedlam. Imps and Ereshkigals scattered around them as they leapt over the broken fence. A Grenade exploded nearby, blasting heat and dirt in molten chunks across their bodies and faces.  


‘Ignis, Shield!’ Gladiolus shouted through the ringing of his ears.  


Ignis leapt; propelling himself from the Shield hastily summoned, imbuing his lance with ice before cratering the earth beneath him in a blizzard’s blast, scattering the demons around him before backflipping as Gladiolus swept his Dominator in an Impulse of force finishing off the group. Nodding, they staggered down the dirt path. They dodged miasma balls and dirt clods as they staggered and fought their way through the crowd. Ignis’ daggers erupted into flame as he went snarling into the fray, even as Gladiolus swept his blade in an arc, back muscles clenching at the force as his arms fought to rip through flesh and bone.  


He grunted as a miasma ball struck his shoulder, the stench of rot and spoiled milk filling his nose and mouth. In front Ignis shouted abruptly as a Galvanade exploded, his body flung into the concrete, electricity convulsing through his body.  


‘Igni-ARGH!’ Gladiolus’ shout fell into a scream as a curse coated blade sliced through his shoulder, scraping against the bone as the Ayakashi at his six struck him from behind.  


He choked. Blood erupted from his mouth, coating his chin as his ears echoed with Ignis’ shouts. Fire flared the surrounding stone in an explosion of orange light as Ignis was blasted away, his daggers dematerialising. Gladiolus grunted unable to help as he was lifted away from the ground; his body a celebration for a grotesque party.  


_They were going to die here…_   


Everything went white.  


A glare of violent light shone, Gladiolus dropping heavily as the Ayakashi recoiled and the demons shook back against the glare.  


Gladiolus’ grin was ferocious even where it was pressed against the dirt.  


‘Blondie! Where the hell have you bee-‘  


…  


His jubilation fell hard as he squinted his one eye against the quickly fading light.  


It was Prompto, but he was brutalised. His uniform destroyed and blood in its place, he limped over to Ignis, eyes wide in shock and a horrified rictus of a smile on his face. Happy, even as he collapsed next to Ignis that they were there, that he wasn’t alone.  


‘Damn’  


It was all the words he could get out, even as he dragged his way over through the dirt and the dust, determined to protect them in the end. Ignis was shaking, blood streaking down his face, his hands making aborted signals for weapons that just wouldn’t come. Prompto was trying to reload his weapon with a Starshell that just wasn’t there and Gladiolus…  


He was making his way to his friends, his comrades, his brothers, wanting even as the Starshell faded and the demons closed in, for his last moments to be with them, even as he wished and hoped that he’d see him…  


Just one, last…time.  


…  


  


_‘The Knights who stay true to the One True King, are not to perish in this Darkness.’_   


  


Light flooded the lair, bright and unrelenting it filled the air with the screaming and screeching of the demons as they perished under the True light of the Star.  


Dazed, Gladiolus reached for his companions, his shoulder and arm numb from the wound. He saw Prompto’s eyes filled with tears, looking to the sky; Ignis jerking his glove off of his hand, unbelieving in what he was feeling. Gladiolus pulled back, resting against the stone beneath him, his skin tingling as his body was suffused with a warmth he’d all but forgotten about. He breathed it in, wanting to close his eyes but refusing to turn away.  


The demons burned as the Sun’s unrelenting force cascaded from the tear in the miasma cloud that choked the sky and in that purest of lights, the Oracle stood on the hill a quiet smile on her face and a white dog wrapped around her legs.  


_‘The True King will return to cleanse the blight from Our Star. His Knights shall stand by his side.’_   


The small dog trotted over, sniffing at their wounds and Gladiolus watched with wide eyes as it ran up to Prompto, licking his face as he chuckled.  


‘Hey girl, been a while huh?’  


That beatific smile graced them once more as the light and the vision of her began to fade, the small dog returning to her side as she brought her hands up in prayer.  


‘Blessed Stars of life and light, deliver us from darkness’ blight’  


And she was gone. The lair silent, the last precious rays of their Star fading behind the clouds. The three men could only lay there, holding on to each other as the warmth left, their injuries healed from the Oracle’s grace even as tears fell from their eyes.  


Her Blessing helped them stand, helped them find strength once more as they scoured the lair, finding fuel and a mother lode of meteorshards that would keep their lights strong for a long time yet.  


But most of all, the glimpse of that purest of lights hardened their hearts to the darkness.  


A reminder of what they were fighting for.  


Together they left the Old Lair to prepare Lucis for their King’s return.


End file.
